


Castiel wait...

by Rasalahuge



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Big Brother Michael, Canonical Character Death, Free Will, Gen, Good Michael, Sacrifice, Season/Series 06, Souls, good Raphael
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 07:02:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5734045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rasalahuge/pseuds/Rasalahuge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Raphael didn’t know when the plan started to go wrong, only that it did. She wished she could say she was surprised when it did but then she had never had Michael’s Faith.</em>
</p>
<p>One archangel, alone after the End of the World.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Castiel wait...

This was how the plan was supposed to go.

 

In the aftermath of the failed Apocalypse Raphael would challenge Castiel, use every trigger and sore spot she knew, to incite his sense of righteous justice. Castiel would, as he had before, revolt but this time, with the Apocalypse and a second resurrection and all the favour of their absent Father, he would not be the only angel to do so. A civil war would erupt in Heaven for the first time in millennia.

Raphael would be at her intimidating best, posturing, throwing around power – a cruel, dangerous and unpredictable leader. She would purposefully lose key battles – Heaven’s armoury, the Garden, the Throne Room – and drive her angels to the very edge and they would desert her in droves. Castiel would rise up, a good, strong leader. As rebellious as the Morningstar but with none of his cruelty or icy wrath Castiel was a beacon and light and passion and above all Faith. His star would rise as Raphael’s diminished.

The final show would see a desperate and deserted Raphael open Purgatory. She would take the souls and the Leviathan into herself. She would posture and threaten, she would place herself in her Father’s throne – the ultimate blasphemy – and she would remove what few angels who refused to embrace Castiel’s vision and Free Will. Then she would go, alone and broken and desperate, to beg the Winchesters for their aid. She would tell them of the Leviathan, eating her from the inside and of the damage they would wrought on Creation. She would let them cast her into Purgatory, taking the Leviathan with her.

Castiel would emerge victorious, a hero who would raise Heaven to a new start and a new path.

 

Raphael didn’t know when the plan started to go wrong, only that it did. She wished she could say she was surprised when it did but then she had never had Michael’s Faith.

It had started well, Castiel found enough power from somewhere to do her serious injury and the war began. Angels flocked to the little-angel-that-could. Raphael let her vessel – not her True Vessel but her True Vessel’s brother, she would need her True Vessel to survive Purgatory – be destroyed, allowed Castiel’s forces to win the Armoury. It was going right.

Except not enough angels were deserting her. Even with more and more unsubtle sabotage Castiel’s victories ground to a halt locking them all into a stalemate that not on could see a way out of. When angels started to return to Raphael she knew something was very wrong. She turned them away with vicious curses and accusations of spying and departed for the Garden – still under her control despite her best efforts.

“What am I doing wrong?” She prayed not expecting an answer, she’d long since lost hope in getting any answer to her prayers. She thought back to the last conversation she had with Michael and wondered what her brother would say to her now if he were here. She ignored the fact that if he were here this wouldn’t be happening in the first place.

_‘You don’t have to do this Michael!’ She had pleaded, “We can do this without you needing to sacrifice your life!’_

_‘Maybe’ Michael smiled sadly at her, ‘But then what? We have a sudden change of heart? Would anyone believe that, let alone the Winchesters?’ He asked._

_‘There has to be a way!’ Raphael pleaded, desperate and pained. Michael stepped forward and wrapped her in an embrace, wings and all._

_‘Peace sister’ He murmured. ‘We cannot falter now, we have come too far. Have Faith,’ Raphael let out a bitter sob._

_‘Faith in what?” She asked, her words had been sharp – a weapon meant to wound even if she did not ever wish to harm her brother._

_‘Faith in Father,’ Michael did not flinch, he knew her too well, knew her anger was not directed at him. ‘Faith in His greatest creations and in His chosen champions. They will succeed Raphael, where we have failed.’_

_‘At what price?’ Raphael demanded, ‘You’ll be dead, or as good as!’_

_‘It is a sacrifice I am more than willing to make’ Michael had answered, calm and resolute as always. As if they hadn’t been discussing his death. ‘Humans are the heirs to Father’s creation, not us. We are caretakers only. It is time to pass on our duty, if that requires sacrifice then so be it,’ Michael would not waver from his duty, not ever, and Raphael had known it then as she had always known it._

_‘I’ve already lost everyone else, I don’t want to lose you too,’ she had confessed as tears dripped down her cheeks. There had been seven archangels once, and a loving Father, yet only Michael and Raphael had remained and Michael was soon to be lost._

_‘We cannot falter now Raphael’ Michael tried to comfort her even if he refused to be swayed. ‘We agreed to this when Father offered this path to walk. It was our choice.’ He had tightened his arms then, as if he could hold her in his embrace forever. ‘I will miss you also little sister. I am not exactly thrilled that you will be throwing yourself into Purgatory you know. Yet it is your choice and we have come too far to back down now.’ He had been right and Raphael had hated him for that. Yet she loved him desperately, desperately enough to beg._

_‘Michael,_ please _,’ she had pleaded knowing the answer already._

_‘Have Faith little sister,’ Michael had whispered…_

“I’ve forgotten how,” Raphael echoed her own words from more than a year ago. Raphael had long since forgotten how to have Faith but she had survived for so long from what Faith she could leech from Michael. Solid, unwavering, dependable Michael had been the only thing Raphael believed in anymore. Yet Michael had been gone for more than a year now and the plan was falling apart. 

What could Raphael do, though, except persist? To press on and to pray to a Father who died long ago that it would be enough. She set her shoulders, brushed the errant tears from her eyes and moved onwards. Raphael didn’t have Faith anymore but she was stubborn, she knew duty and she would not fail. She would not disappoint the one person who had always believed in her. 

The tide of the war turned again as Raphael allowed herself to get backed further and further into a corner. Yet something about the whole thing tasted wrong. Castiel and the Winchesters, who should have been bound closer than ever by this latest threat, were falling further and further apart. Castiel was doing less and less leading in person, instead entrusting the war to his loyal lieutenants while he attended to something on Earth. Eve was freed from Purgatory to walk the Earth. 

The last left Raphael breathless with fear. Eve was not a threat, at least not to Raphael, yet her very presence dictated that the plan was hanging on only by the thinnest of threads. There was no part of the plan that allowed the Mother of All to be freed from her prison. There was no part of the plan that said her children would rise up to start their own war on Earth. The plan was crumbling to dust in Raphael’s hands and she had no idea how to fix it. 

“Michael! Michael! I need you my brother!” Raphael cried out into space, away from the pressures of her followers, away from the evidence of her failure. “I need your guidance!” 

_“Father we need your guidance,” Michael had murmured bowing his head towards the Throne. Raphael had bowed beside him, quiet and respectful and a little nervous. It had been a long time since they had approached Father like this after all, a long time since they had admitted to failure. Neither of them relished the thought of disappointing Him._

_~~Speak My children~~ Their Father said ~~What troubles you?~~_

_“It is our siblings Father; Your angels. They have stopped listening to us,” Michael explained. “They do not love Humanity as You wish,”_

_~~They disobey?~~ Father asked and Michael and Raphael shared a look._

_“No Father,” Michael answered, “But they no longer obey with glad hearts and…” He glanced at Raphael._

_“Some of our siblings have developed… worrying opinions on the nature of Free Will and on our purpose as caretakers of Your creation. They seek to… spread these opinions among their siblings,” Raphael murmured and she had called to mind the discovery of poor Hael and the disaster that had been made of her mind._

_~~I see~~ Their Father had said neutrally._

_“We do not know what to do Father, they still obey You without falter or question and so we cannot punish them however it would be wrong for us to let it continue unchecked,” Michael confessed._

_~~And do all your siblings hold to this opinion?~~ Their Father had asked._

_“No,” Michael said, “But enough do to cause a problem. There are enough of them in the higher choirs and circles that they have powerful influence,”_

_~~Then it would seem they need to be removed of that influence~~ the reply was simple but the magnitude of what it meant was not._

_“Father… how?” Raphael asked desperate and afraid right down to her core._

_~~I can offer you suggestions but you must choose your own path~~ It wasn’t anything Michael and Raphael had not heard before yet this time the words were sad, as if Father already knew which choice they would make. Probably He did and was saddened by it, though without knowing the choices Raphael could not guess why._

_“We will do our best Father,” Michael said and Raphael nodded along with him._

“Apparently our best isn’t good enough Michael,” Raphael choked on the memory knowing there was no way her brother could respond. He was locked away, with Lucifer, and he had gone willingly with barely a backwards glance at Raphael. She knew why of course; Michael adored Lucifer whatever he had done and Michael also trusted Raphael, trusted that she did not need him. Far more trust than she apparently deserved given that the plan was ash in the wind. 

She watched Eve started her war and chomped at the bit, desperate to stop her before she let loose her children on the unsuspecting humans. Yet she couldn’t, not without losing what little control she had on the situation. All she could do in the end was ensure that Castiel managed to get the Winchesters what they needed to kill her, make sure the phoenix ashes made their way to the Auto Salvage they used as a headquarters and then pray that they were successful. 

Then the war pressed her again. She saw her lieutenants killed, more of her angels driven away if not into Castiel’s arms then at least into neutrality. The war was not going well, not for either of them. For the first time Raphael wondered at the choice she and Michael had made, wondered at picking Castiel of all the angels in Heaven. He had seemed the best choice at the time. He had saved Dean, against all odds, where their other potential candidates had barely made it past Hell’s gates. He was strong enough to stand by his convictions where other angels faltered and bowed down before the might of archangels. He had been creative enough to keep the vessels off Heaven’s radar, and Hell’s. He was everything Heaven needed, why then did no one seem to see that? 

Eve perished at the hands of the Winchesters, as Raphael expected her too, yet even as she watched silently she was struck numb by realisation. Castiel was working with demons. He was working with the new King of Hell, Crowley, and lying to the Winchesters about it. This was what was going wrong. This was why Castiel’s angels deserted him, why so many chose neutrality instead of the angel with God’s favour. It was wrong. This shouldn’t have happened. Raphael left before she learned their plan; she didn’t want to know it. She didn’t want to see or hear everything that she and her brother had built and sacrificed become meaningless. 

She returned to the garden and wept. 

_~~My daughter~~ God’s voice whispered quietly as Raphael prayed. ~~I hear you~~_

_“Father,” Raphael breathed out her love and her joy and her thanks that He had come to speak with her. In return He offered her His own love and pride and a silent promise to always listen, even if He didn’t always reply._

_~~What troubles you My daughter?” Her Father asked._

_“I don’t know Father,” Raphael answered, “Some sense of foreboding, it’s elusive. I just know that something isn’t quite right and I fear it is this plan,”_

_~~You do not think it is the wisest path?~~ God asked._

_“I think it’s the wisest path out of those available to us,” Raphael said because she did. They had tried, Michael and her, so many things that she knew in her heart that they were reaching the point where desperate measures were the only option. The plan was desperate but Raphael was certain they could pull it off. Yet she couldn’t shake the foreboding._

_“I feel however… there is something we haven’t accounted for. Something missing, that could spell disaster and I don’t know what to do about it,” She explained._

_~~There is always something you do not know~~ Her Father replied, ~~You are wise, My daughter, in that you are not assuming that you know everything. Keep that in mind and heart, dear one, and you will find a way.~~_

_“What if I can’t?” Raphael asked her voice trembling with fear. She felt God wrap His arms around her, embrace her in His love._

_~~My dear, brave Raphael~~ He said quietly. ~~Fear is a natural reaction but fearing fear itself is not necessary. You know to use your fear, to let it make you stronger rather than to control you. And never forget My daughter that I love you and I will always be with you. What need then is there for fear?~~_

What need for fear? Well Father was gone, dead, and Michael was trapped in the Cage leaving Raphael alone with no one to ask for help. She tried to find Joshua, the angel that could supposedly still speak to God, only to find that he had left shortly after the war started and no one knew where. Instead she stood in the Garden and prayed, as if that would help anymore this time than it had the hundreds of other times. 

Everything was coming to a head now. Raphael could feel it in the very air. Whatever Castiel and Crowley had planned it was coming and soon. Castiel hadn’t been seen in Heaven in more than a week now and his soldiers were becoming itchy with tension and nervousness. Raphael left her own followers knowing that they were few enough that they would struggle without her and left for Earth. She wandered across creation, occasionally causing enough havoc to keep up appearances, but mostly choosing to see all of her Father’s work one last time. How she knew it would be the last time she could not say. 

“Do you know what your problem is Raphael?” Death said met her in what had been once Constantinople. The archangel faced down the horseman, the one being greater than even Michael, and bowed her head in respect. It struck her that she wasn’t quite alone, not entirely abandoned. Death was his own entity, owed no one anything let alone loyalty and yet he had a vested interest in keeping the world in one piece. 

“I have many problems Death, I suspect however you are going to inform me of which I should be most concerned,” Raphael answered. 

“Your problem is Free Will,” Death told her as if he hadn’t even heard her speak. Probably he was irritated with her, it was after all the plan she and Michael concocted which had allowed Lucifer to walk the Earth too early and bound Death to her brother for a while. “Your little staging of the Apocalypse was rather masterful in that by triumphing the Winchesters won Free Will for everyone, including angels.” 

“That was the point,” Raphael said with a frown. 

“True,” Death said, “But by giving everyone Free Will you also gave them the choice to move away from the second part of the plan. Castiel is not acting how you think he should because he doesn’t have to. He acts how he thinks he should.” 

“Oh,” Raphael hadn’t thought of that. 

“Your ultimatum drove him to war, yes, but it also drove him to desperation. With no allies or friends where did you expect him to turn to gain enough power to go to war with you?” Death asked and Raphael felt her heart sink. 

“He was supposed to go to the Winchesters. There was a book… it was meant to fall into their hands…” She whispered, horrified as she realised why Castiel was working with Crowley. Souls, of course it was souls. 

“Except Sam Winchester was raised without a soul and abandoned his brother who remained living his normal life until the supernatural crashed back into it.” Death informed her and Raphael closed her eyes wishing she could cry. 

“Is there any way this can be salvaged?” She asked. 

“Start your endgame Raphael,” Death ordered and then he was gone. Her endgame? Purgatory? It was too soon, she wasn’t defeated enough yet to be driven to desperation, at least not believable desperation. Yet Death was right, if Castiel was getting souls from Hell because he felt he had no option then she needed to remove herself from the equation in a most spectacular fashion. Show Castiel the downsides of taking on the power of too many souls. 

She turned towards America, already rushing to plan. Opening Purgatory wasn’t an issue, she knew how, but collecting the ingredients would be difficult. There was only one native of Purgatory on the planet and finding her would not be an easy task, especially as something drove her ever more urgently forward. Time was short; she had no idea how short. 

The craven bastard Crowley found her before she found the elder god. He offered her Purgatory and the chance to crush Castiel in exchange for a guaranteed throne, enough souls to cement his rule forever. Raphael looked at him and saw ambition and knew that she could remove him easily once she actually had the souls. Castiel might have chosen the path he walked but Raphael was certain this demon was the one who offered it to him. It occurred to her too late why Crowley knew how to open Purgatory, why he had the materials to do it. 

She turned, in dawning horror and realisation, to face down Castiel. Castiel did not swell with thousands of carefully selected souls as she would have done but nearly burst under the strain of millions. She looked at him and saw the spark of insanity in his eyes. She looked at him and saw the darkness inside, the thick black oily blood of something far worse. 

She had failed. She had failed and now Castiel had taken the weight of all of Purgatory. It was too much for him, it would have been too much for her. He had taken it all and he didn’t know - he couldn’t know – what that meant. Damn it all he didn’t know he didn’t realise what he was unleashing. Even if he gave the souls back to Purgatory they would cling on. 

She had to warn him. 

Damn the plan. Damn Free Will. Damn all of it. She would find another way. She just had to warn him… 

“Castiel wait…” 


End file.
